Shoe-stay



(No Model.)

A. WEIGAND.

K SHOE STAY.

No. 510,076. Patented oct. 27, 1896.

1014i O I O l OO UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- ALFRED VVEIGAND, OF MILVAUKEE, IVISCONSIN.

SHOE-STAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,076, dated October 27, 1896.

Application filed August 7 1 8 95.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED WEIGAND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Stays 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its object to do away with stiff boxing or stuffing of shoe-toes in order to prevent wrinkling or breaking of the same; and said invention consists in pliable elastic stays for insertion between shoe linings and uppers or between the latter and toe-tips thereon, as will be hereinafter set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings, and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l represents a plan view of a portion of a narrow-pointed shoe having a toe-tip partly broken away and one form of my pliable elastic stay arranged intermediate of the shoe upper and tip; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the aforesaid stay, and Fig. 3 a plan view of another form of stay designed for a square-toe shoe that is partly illustrated by dotted lines.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A represents the upper, and B the toe-tip, of a shoe.

Inserted between the upper and tip is my pliable elastic stay C, and when the shoe is not tipped said stay will be inserted between the shoe lining and upper.

The stay is preferably thin spring-steel of considerable pliability, and in practice the under side of said stay may be faced with textile fabric or other suitable material D, that can be readily cemented to the shoe lining or upper, this facing being illustrated in Fig. 2.

The form of the stay is variable, according to the style of shoe in which it is utilized, and I have shown a V-shaped stay for a narrow Serial No. 558,493. (No model.)

pointed shoe as well as a U-shaped stay for a broader-pointed shoe.

To avoid stiffness and to insure the best results at all times, the stay presents a forward portion for insertion well up in a shoe-toe, and a plurality of arms that diverge in a rearward direction, the arms herein shown being unequal in the matter of length, the 'inner one being the shortest to avoid injury of the great toe on the footfor which the shoe having the aforesaid stay is fashioned.

The stays are preferably struck out from flat blanks and then shaped on lasts of various contour. Being used as above specified, the stays' permit yield of shoe-toes to pressure, but automatically restore them to original shape as soon as pressure is removed. It also follows that each arm of a stay has independent yield, and thus provision is made for variable pressure on the shoe-toe.

y Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A shoe-toe stay of pliable elastic material cut to present a plurality of arms unequal as to length and divergent from that portion of said material constituting the outer end of the stay.

2. A stay of pliable elastic material cut to present a forward portion for insertion well up in a shoe-toe and a plurality of rearwardlydiverging arms each of which has independent yield to variable pressure.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in`

the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, in the presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED WEIGAND. Witnesses:

N. E. OLIPHAN'r, H. FOEMANN. 

